Resending invitation/action emails

Question

I've got a web app that sends out emails in response to a user-initaited action. These emails prompt the recipient for a response (an URL is included related to the specific action.)

I've got some users asking for a "resend" feature to push that email again.

My objection is that if the original email ended up in a spam folder (or didn't make it all the first time), the same thing is likely to happen the second time. (I've confirmed that the emails haven't bounced; they were accepted by the recipient's mail server.)

So what does the community think: is the ability to resend and email invitation/notification useful or pointless?

Answer 1

Absolutely pointless. But, if the user's want it, and it doesn't take too long, it may be worthwhile. Users are silly sometimes, and if it makes them happy...

Answer 2

Definitely useful, at least from the user's point of view. By manually resending the email, they know that it has been sent and can check their spam folder immediately to catch the mail. Otherwise, they might not know about the mail and it will dissapear from their spam before they can catch it.

Answer 3

It can be useful. The users may have deleted it by accident. It may have been a transient error in the recipient's mail server. Spam filters aren't the only cause of lost mail.

Answer 4

Useful - any number of factors can change between the first and the second sending.

Answer 5

It is definitely useful. There could be a number of cases. For example, user deleted the original email accidentally.

Answer 6

Your objection is assuming that the issue was the invitation was going to the spam folder. You don't know that for sure (or, at least, you hint at such). They could want a Resend button because they want to remind the customer for payment or notify them of something again or whatever. It doesn't matter the reason because the effect should be fairly easy to accomplish and allows them to send as many messages as they like.

One of those 'the customer wants it, it's not entirely unreasonable, maybe you should just implement it instead of questioning them or coming up with a reason to veto it' dealies :)

Answer 7

This is absolutely required. Just because your application didn't get a bounce doesn't mean that the mail actually went through. Many sites drop e-mails that trigger a spam filter rather than deliver them to a spam folder. In such a circumstance, it's conceivable that a user might in the meantime opt-out of his sites spam filtering and then want to retry.

Answer 8

If you implement it I would get the user to re-enter and re-confirm the email address they entered and I would not allow it to be used more than a few times, otherwise it would be very easy to script an abuse script to bomb someones mailbox.

Answer 9

There's no argument against the ability to re-send it, is there? Assuming that re-sending it will end up with the same action doesn't count - there's no harm to re-sending it.

If there's an argument for it, and none against it, that should be an easy decision.